Conor McGregor Offered $5 Million To Fight Chinese Kickboxer

Apparently, Asian combat sports promotions want to see big name western fighter compete against their stars and they are willing to pay big money for it.

There has been plenty of talk about Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Tenshin Nasukawa. The build-up to it had everyone wondering if Floyd would finally step outside of Boxing. It was eventually revealed by Mayweather that the fight was off because he had agreed to an exhibition fight and not an actual fight. A few days later he said there was still a very good chance the exhibition would take place because of the amount of money involved but that it would be Boxing only.

Well, it seems Floyd isn’t the only big name western fighter getting offers from Asia. According to Conor McGregor’s longtime coach and friend John Kavanagh, The Notorious One gets crazy offers all the time. The most recent one came a few days ago, but it was 100% legit.

Kavanagh was on the True Geordie Podcast where they were discussing McGregor’s career and MMA in general. The topic of Mayweather’s potential fight with Tenshin came up and the money he was getting paid. It was then that Kavanah revealed the crazy offer.

$5 Million For Three Rounds Of Kickboxing

“I had a guy message me just a few days ago — a Chinese kickboxer [who] wanted to do three rounds with Conor for $5 million,” Kavanagh said. “And he was going to put it in escrow. It wasn’t like he was just [joking]. Because again, I get a million messages like that a day, but you just don’t pay attention [to them]. But this guy was connected and it was a legitimate offer. But I know he wouldn’t [do it].”

It seems unlikely Conor McGregor would be allowed to compete outside the UFC without their approval. His fight with Mayweather was only possible because the UFC allowed for it to happen. The reason for that was because there was big money involved. It doesn’t seem likely they would agree to something like that again.

Kavanagh didn’t say who the Kickboxer was, but if there aren’t many that would fit the bill in regards to superstar status. Afterall it would have to be a very popular fighter in China for the promoter to be willing to pay McGregor $5 million. The only man that comes to mind when thinking of a Chinese Kickboxer that has the fan power behind him is Yi Long.

Yi Long’s Infamous Iron Chin Technique

For those not familiar with Yi Long he is billed as the Shaolin Monk, although he really isn’t. He has a mass marketing machine behind him and is very popular in China. Long has had two fights with Muay Thai and Kickboxing superstar Buakaw and is also a TV star in China. He is also connected to two big money promotions in China which are Kunlun Fight and MAS Fight.

Long was most recently in action when he took out Hong-Man Choi at MAS Fight. It was a real David vs. Goliath fight as Hong-Man Choi stands 7’2″ while Long is only 5’10”. Of course, we won’t know if it was Yi Long unless Kavanagh spills the beans, but until that happens we are only left with speculation.